I recently bought, from a good friend, a smith and wesson 642 airweight in .38special. It was for my girlfriend, and once she got it, and figured out "+p hurts, light loads are fun", she loved the gun. Well, leave it to me to want to clean the gun up top to bottom. Well, long story short, it's currently at the S&W repair shop now(has been there for about a month now) and is going to be shipped to our house instead of the local gunshop(thats a whole separate adventure in its own). Since losing the 642, my girlfriend has shot several semi auto handguns, the m&p shield 9mm, xd 9mm compact, my ruger kp345, taurus pt92, and a s&w shield. Now, she wants a semi auto in 9mm. My idea "WE'LL GET WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST AS LONG AS IT GOES BANG AND MY WALLET DOESN'T". Here's the question: she's mentioned selling/trading the airweight to get another gun, but my logic says that a revolver is almost as necessary as having running water in the house. They dont jam, the snubbies are great for concealing, easy to operate for grownups, and easy to keep away from the kids. She's a little less inclined about the whole owning multiple handguns deal. I dont mind forking out the cash for a new or used gun, as long as she knows its hers, and her responsibility once she takes it out of the gunshop. I dont want her to give up her revolver thinking she wont get any use out of it later. I think i'm more attached to the gun, as i got it from a friend, and we shot it quite often when he came to visit before i bought it. How important is having that one failsafe backup gun, and how hard would it be to replace it if it did go bye-bye????? What are new/used smith revolvers going for now? If she does keep it, its getting coated black with neon green accents(i thought she'd say pink, but stopped cringing when she said "zombified")

just my thoughts. If the gun was from a good friend, I would never sell it. I would trade her for a new semi auto of her choice and keep the wheel gun for yourself. While the debate over which is better for self defence will never be settled, I carry an XD40 but would never be without a good wheel gun in my home. Good luck and good shooting. There are many guns i have traded over the years and if I could do it all over again, I would have kept them all.

Get her a semi for plinking and shooting fun, let her keep the revolver for her carry weapon. Then she has the both of best worlds. My wife is the same way, loves the semi's and has 4 of them. Her daily carry is a revolver for many of the reasons you mentioned. They don't jam and go bang when you pull the trigger.

gundog5, that's my train of thought, keep it as the "house gun" and get her a new semi auto. The question is, how do i get this silly thought of getting rid of it, out of her head? Do i brainwash her while she's sleeping? Maybe a little alcohol before heading to the gunshop? I've got it, i'll hide the revolver, tell her i sold it, get her a gun of her liking, then magically "voila" the revolver appears in the safe again. Thanks, let's hear from some more folks though.

I sold one gun in my life. Nothing special either. Wish I still had it. Keep your 642. You can never have enough.
Also, I have a 442 in my pocket right now. Not my favorite gun, but a damn good one. They have their place.

Just as a thought, let her try handling and if possible shooting a Sig P250 sub-compact in 9mm. It will not break the bank and is a quality semi. She may or may not like it. Make sure she has the deciding vote in what you next buy her.

Female POV here... But I say keep the gun. Get her another one if she wants a different one. You shouldn't have to justify keeping it. You were the one that bought it to begin with.
I would never tell my fiancé to get rid of a gun he wanted to keep and vice versa. He knows he doesn't need my "permission" to go buy a gun when he wants another one either. We are grown adults.

If you want to keep the 642, it should be yours, and she should have what she wants and enjoys shooting.

The 642 is not a real fun handgun for a lot of people. My wife and both my daughters really disliked mine. They enjoy just about every semi they have shot more. The light weight made the recoil objectionable to them, and the heavy double action trigger and short barrel and sight radius makes it a difficult handgun to shoot well.

The upshot is that if she wants a semi, she might have a good reason. She has to like her gun.

well there is no way to force her to keep the sw as her only weapon. if you try to "this is all you need' your going to have as bad a time as telling her she doesnt need to go shopping anymore.

however dont sell it. its a good little firend to have. shell grow on it when ammo costs with that semi auto she wants to get comes into play.

I completely stripped it, and somewhere in the process(at 2am, the hammer jammed into the cylinder release)
. I'm not trying to force her to have only this one gun. I want her to have a semi so she can come plink and practice with me and the rest of the gang, without destroying her hand. I just want her to get over the "ive got to sell one to buy one" logic. Maybe dress the guns up in shoe leather or put Louis vuitton on it. Lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by TailGator

If you want to keep the 642, it should be yours, and she should have what she wants and enjoys shooting.

The 642 is not a real fun handgun for a lot of people. My wife and both my daughters really disliked mine. They enjoy just about every semi they have shot more. The light weight made the recoil objectionable to them, and the heavy double action trigger and short barrel and sight radius makes it a difficult handgun to shoot well.

The upshot is that if she wants a semi, she might have a good reason. She has to like her gun.

She loves the airweight, just the simplicity of it, the fact that she shoots it very well(3" groups at 15-20yds well), and the safety of the da trigger. She just sees the practicality of having a semi auto for plinking, and if the situation ever arises, the capacity possibilities of a 9mm compact. I almost had her take a Sig 250 home a couple weeks ago, but spending $500 at one time made her queasy. Lol. How many women do you know, or men for that matter, would turn down a new $5-600 toy? She's working up the nerve though. I see a bigger safe in our future.
She would like to trade it for a 442, since its already black in color, but I made a friend recently that does duracoat. So hopefully, once she sees it in black, with neon green accents and zombie grips, she'll forget saying anything about getting rid of it. I know if it turns pink, she will definitely hand it to me. I handed her a black ar with a pink and purple splash design, and she asked the shop clerk if she broke the gun on my head, would they make her pay for it.

Buy her what she wants like most her taste and preferences will evolve over time as will her skill.Mine wanted a 638 air weight and carried it for a year and shot it well,then started playing with different semi auto platforms never to return to the snubby.She would rather shoot a 1911 than the 38 says it hurts less.She now owns a kahr,G17,CZ P-01 and a 9mm carbine,She carries
the Kahr 24/7 but likes shooting the CZ the most.We kept the 38 but it does
not see much range time.

Personally, I would buy her what she wants and tell her I was keeping the revolver and she just needs to get over it. You're not even married to this woman and you're letting her tell you what to do?

Hey, she cooks my food, and makes sure I get my arse up and medicated in the a.m. lol. So, yep, she tells me what to do, sometimes. If it weren't for her, I'd be pushing a pile of guns in a shopping cart.

If she likes the 642, you have two good reasons to keep it. You and she have already noted the attributes of the revolver, and having a small semi-auto would be a nice complement to that.

There is no reason to own only one gun. IMHO, each of you should have (at least) one that is suitable for CCW. If that happens to also be one that you (or she) shoots well and enjoys shooting frequently, so much the better. If not, there is a reason to own another.

I seriously doubt that either you or she own only one pair of shoes. Same logic applies here--one small, light carry gun. One larger HD and/or range gun. Maybe a .22 for cheap and regular target practice. How far you go is limited only by your imagination and your budget (for most of us, the imagination is not a problem).

Yep, keep the 642 and add a semi auto. They each have their merits. It's like having different sized screwdrivers, hammeers, etc. Different tools or different jobs.

BTW, if she's managing 3" or so at 15 to 20 yards with the 642, she's doing MUCH better than many of us! My sister is a darn good shot with a S&W .38 snub, proving that the general rule that snubbies are difficult to shoot is just that: a general rule, and not always true.

As for revolvers not jamming, they can and do fail, and I'm saying that as a certified wheel gun nut . Overall though, I trust them more based on my own personal experiences, knowing that it doesn't take much of a loose grip and/or a less than ideal hold to cause stoppages in an otherwise reliable semi ... just my 2 cents.

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